Tosaki silently fixed his glasses, the drive through the gate was a long one at that despite the lack of traffic at this time of hour. Shimomura was driving silently. It's been nearly a year since the gate opened up in Tokyo and the horrors of war hit Japan after 80 years of peace.
He already read the reports several days before and constantly kept up with reports from the general throughout the war. Although with the discovery of Demi Gods and other long living species and other immortal species caught the attention of the Ajin Control Commision. Which he was the lead of.
The reason why he couldn't get here earlier was due to that damned Satou. During his seconds wave of attacks the gate opened and Tosaki's team consisting of Satous' old Allies, Nagai, Nakano, and Shimomura had to temporarily call off the fighting between the two and defend Tokyo.
Tosaki and his team all fought for the defense of the Ajin Control Commissions safe house in downtown Tokyo 6 blocks west of Gina's. They were planning on attacking Satou and Tanaka from there but then the empire invaded, throwing all of those plans on the backburner.
He didn't know what Satou did during that time; he's been missing ever since. There's a possibility he snuck to the other side of the gate and caused hell for them or simply waited for the empire to get destroyed by Japan. Either way whatever he was planning wasn't good.
Now they had the chance to head to the other side of the gate.
"Shimomura when we arrive be careful we don't want the people of the Special Region learning of undying people who know how the leaders will react and especially Rory Mercury." Tosaki said.
"Yes sir." Shimomura responded.
They nearly had a breach of information with the delegates from the Special Region as Kourahara was about to ask her if Tuka or Rory were an Ajin due to how long they were living. Good news was that the last question that led to Kourahara's will to continue was so thoroughly destroyed by Rory Mercury thoroughly destroying her before they were able to even get to the last question. If it wasn't for Tosaki's personal intervention and "convincing" of Kourahara on leaving the questions of Ajins last or immortal people she would've asked them about it the first special regions guest that came up.
The car exited on the other side of the gate and was met with concrete and a military fort. They were escorted by multiple light truck and were taken directly straight towards General Hazamas office.
After waiting for a few minutes they were allowed Hazama sat at his desk arms crossed.
"Hello Mr. Tozaki." Hazama said.
"It's Tosaki, General." Tosaki corrected Hazama.
"My apologies Tosaki. I'm sure your aware of the situation correct?" Hazama asked.
"Yes I am aware of the situation I've been reading the reports for several days now in fact." Tosaki answered.
"I'm also guessing you've visited the prison island several times already?" Hazama asked.
Tosaki didn't answer, merely giving Hazama a glare.
"I'm taking that as a yes then. You should also be aware Ogura is coming to the special region as well." Hazama informed.
Tosaki stepped forward "what? Why wasn't I informed of this!" Tosaki asked, they couldn't find out he kidnapped Ogura even if it was for the survival of Japan or his own personal gain.
"He informed us only an hour ago about this while you were in the car." Hazam said.
"Where is he right now, General?" Tosaki asked.
"Most likely Okinawa." Hazama answered.
"What?" Tosaki asked, then a knock was heard.
"Hey four eyes I know you're in there with the general!" Ogura said.
"He seems pissed." Hazama said "come in."
The door opened revealing an older American in his 50s who wore gloves. Surprisingly enough the hand where two of his fingers were cut off were somehow back.
"Hey four eyes." Ogura said, next to him was an 18 year old boy. The boy was a good ten centimeters taller than Shimomura but still considerably shorter than Tosaki. He was a tanned boy with curly brown black hair and brown eyes. He had a growing mustache above his mouth.
"Who's the boy?" Tosaki asked.
"No hello or welcome? Four eyes you haven't changed a bit. Since we last met." Ogura said.
"I asked a question, who is the boy?" Tosaki asked.
"The boy is Joel Maldonado and he's an ajin." Ogura answered, "the kid also doesn't understand Japanese so if you want to speak to him you'll need to do it in English or Spanish."
Tosaki was surprised Ogura just willingly told him he had an Ajin. Tosaki turned towards the general who remained unfazed at the new information.
"You knew didn't you?" Tosaki asked the general who was silently sitting there.
"Look four eyes, some things are bigger than you and you're lucky I decided to not press charges." Ogura said.
"Enough gentlemen, we've already wasted enough time already." Hazama said. "You all may go now. I just need to know you all have protection and are here so start your jobs."
"Yes sir." Tosaki said the two Japanese left, leaving the Americans and the General alone.
"He seems pissy." Joel said in English. Hazama didn't respond as the two left.
"Precisely kid, Four eyes is always one way or another pissy and doesn't understand proper communication." Ogura said.
"Well I think I would be like that if my fiancé was in a coma as well and the bills are tens of thousands of dollars." The door closed, not allowing general Hazama to hear any more of their conversation. Hazama sighed and leaned back in his chair and stretched. 'Today is going to be a long day.' The general thought.
Tosaki sat down in the car's passenger seat while Shimomura got into the driver's side. The car started soon after and they were on their way towards the Alnus settlement. A scowl was practically forming on him as he lit a cigarette.
The ride was mostly silent other than the occasional bump. They arrived at the Alnus Settlement. They parked the car and waded through a small crowd not many people were out at the current time.
Tosaki's official reason as to why he's was to inform local restaurants about a health inspection. They arrived at a very popular restaurant in town as it was their first stop.
Before they left the car Tosaki asked "Do you understand the local language? I heard the SDF men here frequently do it." Tosaki said.
"Yes I did, if I end up not understanding them we'll be fine and the SDF soldiers will step in." Shimomura answered.
When they got there they were met with a bustling bar. Tosaki approached one of the waitresses. Tosaki unofficially was to scout out potential Ajin.
He found a girl with feathered legs, clearly a Demi human most likely either a siren or a Winged Humanoid who was a waitress. "Hello, I am Mister Tosaki from the Ministry of Health from Tokyo. I wish to speak to your boss." Tosaki said.
"Uh, no Japanese." The bird girl said.
Shimomura intervened "hello miss we are from the Ministry of Health from Tokyo. This is Mr Tosaki, an official from the Ministry of Health." Shimomura translated.
"The Ministry of Health? From Tokyo? Is that on the other side of the gate?" The waitress asked.
"Yes we are officials from the other side." Shimomura answered.
"Oh! Really what's it like on the other side? I've heard so many good stories from Tuka, and Rory. Oh please tell me!" The Siren girl said, grabbing onto Shimomura's shoulders, her eyes were gleaming.
"No, we wish to speak to your manager and also things in Japan are great." Shimomura said.
"Oh do you know Itami by any chance? I heard he's super famous on the other side!" The bird girl asked.
"I'm sorry I can't answer that question but if we're here and not busy we could tell you." Shimomura said "but we like to speak with the manager."
"Oh yeah, the Manager I'll go get him right now. Before you go, do you want to sit down at the bar? We'll be able to serve you while you talk to us." The bird girl said.
Shimomura translated and Tosaki responded "that will be fine by us."
The two sat down while the bird girl ran off to get the manager.
The first thing the two noticed was that they were getting curious stares from the patrons in the bar. Tosaki decided to ignore it.
"Mr Tosaki look." Shimomura nudged and pointed towards the directions of a booth in the corner of the restaurant, a group of JSDF soldiers with a noticeable halberd at the side.
"Rory Mercury." Tosaki said, the two decided to ignore the situation as is and deal with it later.
Soon after the manager arrived.
"Well hello esteemed Officials from Japan. What brings you here today to my fine establishment." The manager asked.
"We're here to perform a health code check on your establishment." Tosaki said.
"And that means?" The manager asked.
"It essentially means you're not giving out spoiled food, and large amounts of pests are not present in your building spreading diseases. More or less it means not giving anything that could get anybody sick to the point where they die." Shimomura translated.
"Oh, so you're going to check us? Cause I don't see a girl doing something like that." The manager said.
"We're not doing it ourselves, we're merely giving you advanced warning about the check." Shimomura explained.
"Oh, so when is it?" The manager asked.
"7 days from today." Shimomura explained.
"Oh ok." The manager said.
"We'll be leaving if that's all the question." Tosaki said.
"No more questions you guys can continue on with whatever your job is." The manager said leaving to continue doing other jobs.
The two got up and were about to leave until Shimomura stopped him.
"What is it?" Tosaki asked, he looked at the direction Shimomura was looking and saw that a body bag was being pulled into a light truck.
Tosaki immediately rushed out the building and asked the several MPs surrounding the car.
"What happened?" Tosaki asked.
"Someone was killed brutally by something. We don't know how though sir." The Japanese MP he was in shock trying his best to hide said, next to him was a native MP in shock.
"What did you see?" Tosaki asked.
"A mutulated body beyond recognition." The MP answered.
"Do you mind if I see it?" Tosaki asked.
"Uh sure." The MP said opening the body bag. Tosaki quickly analyzed the body no recognizable features were found clearly the work of an IBM.
"You may go now." Tosaki said the MP closed the body bag and continued on there.
When the two got to an alleyway Tosaki slammed his hand on a pillar.
"Damn it!" Tosaki yelled, "did you see it?"
"Yes I did, it was clearly the work of an IBM." They spoke English to keep the topic of an IBM secret as it was still classified material by both the Japanese and Americans.
"Whoever did it is clearly an Ajin." Tosaki said.
"And they know how to control it as well." Shimomura added.
"Yes, that's the worst case scenario on this side of the gate." Tosaki said, fixing his glasses.
"Hey look at what we have here?" Someone said, coming out of the alleyway.
"Yeah it's one of those Japanese." Another said.
"Hey look, the tiny one looks like fun to play with." Another said. Two more figures appeared in the alleyway.
"Do you know what they're saying, Shimomura?" Tosaki asked.
"They're planning on attacking us." Shimomura answered.
"You know what to do then. But don't kill them, merely paralyze them if need be." Tosaki ordered.
"Yes sir." Shimomura said, getting into a fighting stance.
"Look, the tiny one is planning on fighting back." The person was clearly a Demi-human with wolf ears.
The wolf charged Shimomura and was met with a blow to the stomach, a cold hard weapon placed against his head.
"You wanna try me now?" Shimomura asked, the wolf paled, including his partner, which was a human and a Demi human cat.
Then the human said "that won't scare us, we have the advantage!" The human said drawing a knife and charging Shimomura.
Shimomura pushed the Wolf Demi Human into a nearby pillar and was about to disarm the human but then he was suddenly charged into the wall and disarmed.
"Hey four eyes." Ogura said suddenly walking into the alleyway.
"You may have had it handled well but by the time Shimomura could reset you would've been dead." He hit off his cigarette, "not only that we don't reveal the existence of Ajins to this Special Region. Which is…"
"Something we do not want." Tosaki finished.
"Precisely and so your welcome." Ogura said.
A scowl was formed on Tosaki's face. "So what have you been doing?"
30 minutes earlier
Ogura got into the passenger side of the truck that belonged to Joel. It was clearly an American model due to the fact that the driver's side was on the left and the passenger on the right. He got into the truck and started the car. No sound was made as the electric truck started its engine.
"The plan is to head to the clinic and help study Demi Human biology?" Joel asked.
"Yes we are, by the way you got any protection?" Ogura asked.
"The backseats and the glovebox." Joel said, "also here." Joel handed Ogura the key to unlock the glove box and was met with an assortment of pistols to the side were magazines. From a Glock 17 to M1911. He grabbed a good old M1911 and placed it in his jeans hidden from view. He grabbed a few Magazines, hid them, and handed Joel a Glock 20 along with its magazines.
He looked back and opened the backseats and was met with a P-90. Somehow stuffed under the seat several magazines were laid above it. He decided to leave alone until they needed it.
"How did you stuff an entire P-90 in the seat?" Ogura asked.
"You should check the other seat." Joel said.
Ogura opened it and was met with an M4 with several magazines.
"How many guns do you own again?" Ogura asked as Joel took off towards the Alnus Settlements Clinic.
"Uhhh." Joel paused thinking for a moment "like ten?" He said.
"Texas is strange."
"And horrible to live in if you're a woman or want power. You know I could go on all day about how horrible Texas is for putting Abbot back in power." Joel added.
They arrived at the clinic after they slowly moved through the settlement taking care to not run over anybody. They exited the truck pulling out the solar panels and letting the batteries charge. They wouldn't be there for long though since they would only get a percent increase.
They entered the clinic and saw that it was more old school than anything else. It wasn't a clean and sterile place with concrete but instead just wood. They did have modern equipment provided to them by the JSDF but that was it. Many were people studying healing magic and ended up coming to the settlement after hearing amazing wonders about the JSDF.
They went towards the reception and a few people were waiting to be checked on after being told to by SDF soldiers, "Welcome to the Alnus Clinic, how can we help you?" Asked a woman at the front counter.
"I am doctor Ogura from the other side of the gate. I am here to observe your tactics in healing people with injuries and studying Demi human biology." Ogura explained.
"Oh, Doctor Ogura, I've heard so much about you from Lelei while she was on the other side of the gate! Please come, you are welcome to our humble establishment." The nurse said, leading the two further into the clinic.
The clinic was busy to a certain extent, with a few patients here and there. The nurses and doctors were clearly from the special region and were acemics from this world.
"Alright we're here." The nurse said the selected patient for Ogura to study was an elf. What piqued Ogura's interest were the Elves' long lifespan and their magical ability. Technically speaking everything on this planet has some amount of magic available to them. Elves were chosen for their combination of long life spans and large amounts of magical ability. Every single elf born has the ability to manipulate their mana at will.
"Hello Mrs. Marceau." Ogura said, sitting at the chair.
"Hello, you are the alchemist that will be studying my- what was it called again. Biology?" Tuka said.
"Yes, I am Dr. Ogura, a Biophysicist. Essentially I look at the science part of biology and theoretical parts of it. Think of it as understanding how it works and not where it comes from." Ogura explained.
"Oh, so it's like what is the inner workings of biology and guesswork or something!" Tuka asked.
"Yes. So overall I'll be studying you and your species and come up with a theory on magic and elves' long life span." Ogura said, he turned to Joel and switched to English "grab the equipment would you?" Ogura said.
"Yes sir." Joel responded he left the room and grabbed the equipment that was being prepared.
"So what's going to happen now?" Tuka asked.
"We're going to do some science." Ogura said.
Joel soon came back with a machine. It was a large circular machine with an opening for a person to sit in the middle.
"I wanted to do this in America but Japan didn't let us and said we had to do it here on this side of the gate." Ogura said.
"The MRI is ready." Joel said.
"Alright if you would sit on the bed we'll get to work." Ogura ordered.
Tuka got on the bed as Joel pushed her under the circular machine. The scan was using new technology that was developed from the studying of Ajins. Though Tuka didn't know that it wasn't actually an MRI scanner. It was actually something known as an Invisible Black MatterScanner. Also called an IBM Scanner.
"First we'll see if we can detect your mana."
Ogura had a theory that what made Ajins Immortal is similar to what makes elves immortal. Elves have a long life but when they die they don't regenerate like an Ajin. But there's a possibility that elves evolved in this environment and their biology was able to slow down their cellular death rate, and also the universe doesn't want them to die of old age, and only have them die from other causes. Apparently the universe hates everything for some reason.
Like how Ogura has lung cancer and isn't dead yet from it.
After a few minutes of waiting the machine finished and there was something and nothing.
"It seems that we can detect your mana but it's not what I was expecting." The machine detected their "mana" but it looked completely different from the unknown material that is IBMs.
"Alright then it looks I won't be able to tell much more than this." Ogura said looking at the screen, it was spread throughout her body like an Ajins but he couldn't get much more detail than that. When an Ajin receives enough damage to kill a human they reset, the IBM reservoir would release the IBM particle from somewhere in the body which was thought to be present throughout the cells themselves as an Organelle. But Tuka's mana was constantly flowing throughout her body unlike an ajins specialized theoretical organelles that handles regeneration of the body.
Whatever it was, if he had more time and better equipment, he would be able to see more things. Although there was one thing for mana that is similar to IBM particles but not at the same time.
"Mrs. Marceau thank you for your with us that will be all for today. I don't have the equipment as currently to successfully study anything more than just detect your mana." Ogura said.
"Oh so a dead end?" Tuka asked.
"No not yet. That will be all you're free to go now." Ogura said.
"Oh, thank you, please tell me if you find anything new." Tuka said leaving the clinic.
"She seemed nice." Joel said.
"Well she is, biologically speaking she's slightly younger than you. Despite being nearly ten times older than you and nearly three times older than me." Ogura said.
"So biology at its finest?" Joel asked.
"Yes, Biology at its finest." Ogura responded.
The two left the clinic after putting up the IBM Scanner. Tommorowthey'll observe the surgery and healing tactics used by mages and compare it to Ajin Regeneration.
They got to the truck, took the truck off the charger and began driving. They did some work but not much. Ogura wished he could've done more but he only could do scans and study it later. So for now the two decided it was enough.
They parked the truck at the designated parking lot for JSDF vehicles and earth visitors. They decided walking would be worth the while. The two took the back alleyways till they heard a group of men say something very derogatory.
Soon the voice of Shimomura was heard as she began to fight the group of gangbangers but Joel ended up charging one of them and easily dispatched the other.
Present time
"You two haven't done anything funny yet?" Tosaki asked, unimpressed by the American.
"Look four eyes you may not trust me. But you need to understand that having some random grudge isn't going to help you." Ogura said.
"Have you heard?" Tosaki asked.
"Heard what?" Ogura asked.
"Someone was killed by an IBM."